Well bores are lined with tubing, referred to as a casing or a liner, for many reasons, for example, to prevent formation collapse into the bore, protect fresh-water formations, isolate a zone of lost returns or isolate formations with significantly different pressure gradients. The tubing is usually manufactured from plain carbon steel that is heat-treated to varying strengths, but may be specially fabricated of stainless steel, aluminum, titanium, fiberglass and other materials. A single liner may extend from the top of the well bore or one liner may be anchored or suspended from inside the bottom of the previous strings of liner.
Lining a well that includes one or more auxiliary bores extending from a main bore is difficult, because a junction must be made between the liner for the auxiliary bore and the liner for the main bore. The liner spanning the junction is installed through the liner in the main bore, and must be oriented with respect to the bores and make a connection downhole. Furthermore, the auxiliary bore is often drilled through the main bore with the liner of the main bore installed. The drilling bit is deflected into the wall of the main bore with a whipstock. Therefore, numerous trips into and out of the well are required to set the whipstock, drill the auxiliary bore, and set the liner in the auxiliary bore. For example, in the past, lining a well with laterals has required one trip (into and out) to set whipstock in the main bore liner, one trip to drill the auxiliary bore, one trip to set the auxiliary bore liner, and one trip to withdraw or reposition the whipstock for drilling and lining additional auxiliary bores. Trips into and out of the well are time consuming and add to the expense of completing a well, as well as delay the time in which the well begins to produce.